The Namdhari Sikhs

History > Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji

Chapter 6Mrs. Beant Kaur

"Ant Beant Na Paravaraa "

The merciful God listened to the cries of humanity and sent Guru Nanak into this world.He bowed to God in utter humility and offered prayersand then he gave the nectar of the "Holy Name" to his disciples.The Guru revealed the unity of the Supreme Being in the Dark Age.He established Dharma firmly on its feet, brought together the four castes.He initiated the practice of disciples acknowledging one another and treated prince and pauper alike.Look at this wondrous act; he taught the people to bow their heads and to recognise their own humility.Baba Nanak liberated the people of the Dark Age through the mantra Satnam. Guru Nanak came to the world for the redemption of mankind.(Bhai Gurdas Jee)

Satguru Partap Singh Ji and Mata Bhupinder Kaur were blessed with a son on 21st of November, 1920, at Sri Bhaini Sahib. On the 25th day initiation rites were performed by Sant Alia Singh Ji and the baby was named Jagjit Singh. Due to boycott of the schools run by the British government, Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji studied English, Hindi , Panjabi and classical music under the supervision of expert private tutors. After completing his education, he started assisting his father in organising and implementing various social, political and religious activities. This enabled him to come in contact with the masses, feel their problems at the grass root level and attain deep knowledge of all spheres of life. After Satguru Partap Singh Ji, Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji became the master of innumerable hearts of the Namdhari Sikhs on 22nd of August 1959. It was the time, when India had already got emancipated from the shackles of the British regime. The people, who had migrated from Pakistan, too had almost settled down and established themselves. Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji, therefore, made plans to complete the unfinished works of his predecessor Gurus, and accelerate their pace of progress.Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji paid specific attention towards the following:The memory of Satguru Ram Singh Ji always remains fresh in the minds of the Namdhari Sikhs. Akhand Varnis of Naam Simran i.e. round the clock contemplation of Naam Simran are in progress at various places in India and abroad. A number of young boys are taking part in Varnis by turn. Each one of them has to be baptised and lead a pure and austeric saintly life.Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji has therefore desired each of the Namdhari Sikhs :

To be blessed with Gur Mantar in the ear from an authorised person and baptised with holy Nectar (Amrit) as soon as child got his senses.

The new born baby must be blessed with Gur Mantar in the ear before a feed is given. The mother herself can do so if none else is present.

To get up early in the morning, take bath from head to heel, meditate on God's name (Naam Simran) and recite Chandi-Di-Var before sun rise, and other banis of Sikh Nitnem with sunrise.

Apart from the normal routines one hour must be devoted for meditation on Gurmantar (Naam Simran) daily.

To learn and recite Gurbani from Adi Granth Sahib as well as Dasam Granth Sahib.

To purify the atmosphere, environment and body saul of the person he should perform Havans and take part in VARNIS of Naam Simran.

To celebrate and take part in the religious functions like Gurpurb: Birthdays of the Gurus, Holla Mohalla, Jap Prayog for full one month, Baisakhi, Basant Panchmi day, martyrdom days at Malerkotla, Ludhiana and Amritsar.

He desires all his disciples to be clad in simple white uniform as designed by Sri Satguru Ram Singh Ji and his predecessor Gurus.

Traditional classical music has played a very significant role in attaining heights in spiritualism. All the great Guru's have composed hymns called Shabads in different ragas and desired their disciples to sing accordingly. This old Sikh tradition since Guru Nanak Dev Ji is being carried on by him.He inspires the youngsters to learn Indian classical music from the renowned eminent musicians who hold Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji in very high esteem. He has been a source of inspiration to many a notable classical musicians. Musical concerts are being held in India and abroad to spread the Indian art and attract people to learn it more and more. He is a great lover of Indian classical Vocal as well as Instrumental music. He prefers to sing the Gurbani in the same Raga in which it has been written in the Adi Granth Sahib. Kala Kendra has been established at Sri Bhaini Sahib to promote vocal as well as instrumental music under trfe supervision of eminent musicians.- Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji accords due respect to the members of other religions, social organisations working for the cause of humanity without distinction of any caste, creed, colour or political affiliation.- Marriage system has been very much simplified. All customary marriage celebrations have been prohibited and mass-simple marrige system has been imposed among His followers. Inter-caste marriages within the Namdhari community have been encouraged. The bridegroom and his parents are not allowed to accept the dowry in any form, the defaulters are being punished.- He has appointed some of the ladies as 'Subas' giving the equal status to the men and women. Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji takes a special interest in the all around development of the personality of the youngsters, by leading austric, pure and simple life.- After independence, He has a keen desire that all the Namdhari Sikhs must get the best of education. To achieve this objectives, he has established schools at Sri Bhaini Sahib, New Delhi, Sri Jeewan Nagar, Mandi and Bangkok. The "Guru Hari Singh Vidyala" at Sri Jeewan Nagar has now become a (Maha Vidyala) college, and an Institution has been estabished to learn the best technology in computer systems. Education of girls has been made as much essential as that for the boys in the modern sciences.Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji had conceived the idea of organising of Namdhari youth in 1962. The basic idea was to inspire the youth to take part in various social, religious, cultural and political activities of the nation. This would also offer an opportunity for the youth to come closer to each other thereby improving love and fraternity amongst them. To further bring them together at the global level, annual educationl conferences (Vidayak Sammelans) are organised at different places under the kind patronage of His Holiness Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji. Special quiz programmes are organised to clear the doubts of the youngsters, if any, on the concluding day the participants are duly rewarded. For the ladies also an Women Educational Organisation (Istri Vidyak Jatha) has been constituted to enable the girls to take active part in various activities.Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji is very fond of games and encourages the youngsters to play various games such as badminton, hockey, kabaddi, volley ball, football, roller skating etc. The Namdhari hockey team had acclaimed recognition at the national and international level, they have played a number of friendly matches in Africa and Europe as well. One of the players has represented India at Olympics also, the speciality of this team is that they play national and inter-national matches in their traditional Namdhari costumes and Gur-Sikhee dress: turbans and kachharas. (all the Five K's).Satguru Ram Singh chair has been established in "Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwa Vidyala" in Varanasi to facilitate and encourage the study of Namdhari mission, and a chair has also been established at the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.He is very fond of agriculture and his knowledge in this field is superb. The Namdhari farm at Banglore has established its reputation at the international level. He has brought some of the plants, trees, flowers from various countries and successfully tried their plantation in India. His love for animals is also immense. One can see the best of the cows, horses, buffaloes in Namdhari farms.Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji has a very kind and affectionate heart for the sufferings of humanity. Some of the important welfare programmes initiated by him are as under:- Special arrangements have been made at Ludhiana, where the persons suffering from various diseases get free treatment in hospitals and at Nursing homes who could not support the heavy expenses. Satguru Ji has been benevolent enough to provide houses at various places free of cost to a large number of sewadars and to the homeless peoples.- Elder's Home has been established at Sri Bhaini Sahib, Sri Jeewan Nagar, where old aged persons, who have nobody to look after them, are being fully taken care of in all respects and all their requirements are being fulfiled, amongst them notable writers, academic personalities and musicisn artist of the name.- In recognition of their services, some of the eminent musicians and literary figures, who have spent almost all of their lives in service to the community have been given various awards including cars. Some of them have been conferred upon the titles of 'Panth Rattan', 'Gyan Martand.'Continued research of historical events is essential for the dynamic progress of any society. Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji has paid specific attention towards this important aspect. Sh Jaswinder Singh of Delhi, is busy in searching various documents in India and has even visited the places in Burma, at Rangoon where Satguru Ram Singh Ji was detained. He has collected quite a useful information and documentary evidences about various happenings. Sh Surjit Singh Jeet is similarly dedicated to this work in London and has collected almost all the information about the Namdhari Sikhs from the British records. He has collection of contemporary Newspapers, original documents and some rare books and some old manuscripts, photos etc. In addition there are many writers who have made valuable contribution to the literature about Namdhari Sikh Mission. Some of the lady writers have also emerged on the literary scene as Subha Surinder Kaur Kharal and so many others.Satguru Ji takes a lot of interest in the publication of literature in Panjabi, Hindi as well ay English. During 1972 when Namdhari Sikh Panth was celebrating 'Satguru Ram Singh Pardes Gawan Shatabadi'; Shatabadi News, and lot of literature was published under the kind guidance of Sardar Harvinder Singh Hanspal and he has played a great role during 'Satguru Partap Singh Ji's' birth centenary to publishing Namdhari literature distribute it, and all over the world Namdhari Sikhs organised so many functions with great enthusiasm during this period, a great number of books have been published in connection with these centenaries.Some of the other notable books Published or under Publication are:'Jas Jeewari parts 1 to 6 covering the entire period of Satguru Partap Singh Ji written by Sant Taran Singh Vehmi have already been published.

Lai Eh Rattan' Part 3, 4 and 5, are under pulbication.'Satguru Bilas' written by Sant Santokh Singh ji, edited by Jaswinder Singh is under publication.Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji is also called the "Rain Maker" by the people of England as in 1976. There was heavy rain fall by his blessings and the drought stricken people of England got relief, on Saturday, 28th of August, 1976, the newspaper The Sun' reported" It rained yesterday and Sikhs claimed a hundred per cent success of their Holy man, Guru Jagjit Singh Ji. The Guru was flown in from the Punjab on Wednesday to pray for rain for the Sikhs who live in Southall, West London."Under the patronage of Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji, lot of construction and development projects works have been undertaken at Sri Bhaini Sahib in Punjab and all over India. The old thatched mud houses have been replaced with buildings of bricks and cement concrete with all the modern amenities. 'Satguru Partap Singh Mandir', 'Hari Mandir', 'Gole Mandir', the residence of Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji add to the glory of Sri Bhaini Sahib. The 'Ram Sarover' has been reconstructed and it gives a very attractive outlook. A great number of rooms have been constructed to meet the growing needs of the pilgrims. The construction of private colonies in Sri Bhaini Sahib is also in progress. Sri Bhaini Sahib has been declared a sacred city by the Indian Government. Various improvement schemes like dispensaries, stadium, sanitation, water supply, sewer, drainage system have been undertaken by the Government. The opening of telephone exchange at Sri Bhaini Sahib has put it on the communication map of the country. The birth place of Satguru Ram Singh Ji in Village Raian has been acquired. As a mark of respect and recognition of the supreme sacrifice made by the Namdhari Sikh martyrs at Amritsar, Raikot, Ludhiana and Malerkotla in 1871 and 1872, construction of befitting memorial is in progress. "Kuka Martyrs Memorial Trust" has been formed to look after the construction activities of these memorials at various places.Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji has a multi-talented very Revered (worshipping) personality. Even a short meeting with him fills one's mind with spiritual ecstasy, His celestial and smiling face casts a magnetic attraction to come closer to him. His memory remains always fresh and inspires one to lead a pure and simple life. Although he is known to be the head of the Namdhari Sikhs only, his field of activity is the whole world and He is the Satguru of the universal humanity. He undertakes extensive tours not only in India but abroad as well to shower his pious blessing upon his followers. This is evident from the writings of the renowned scholars all over the world. He advises rich people not to be proud of the riches and the worldly possessions as they are all perishable. He advises the strong people not to be proud of their strength as it is lost with the growing of age. He says that a man should always do his best as it brings name and fame not only to him but also to the society to which he belongs. He advises his followers to be modest, sincere, true and honest, He always appreciates the good deeds of the people and ignores their evils and faults. He is an apostle of love, peace and affection for the humanity. It is impossible to describe Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji's qualities in words. He is too deep to be measured and too contemplative to be understood. With his blessings the Namdhari Sikhs have made an allround progress and are leading prosperous life in India and abroad. Where ever they be they are complete vegetarians, teetotallers and faithful to Satguru Ji, each one endeavours to lead a puritan life and follow the teachings of Satguru Ji strictly. Which have been laid down by His predecessor Gurus and the Holy Scriptures of the Sikh Khalsa Panth.The Namdhari Sikhs, by the blessings of the Holy Gurus, are making progress in every sphere of life. They have attained spiritual heights, moral strength, political awakening, social awareness, they spend their early hours of the morning in meditating on God's Name. They are honest in their dealings. They believe in simple living and high thinking. They are soft and sweet spoken. They never harm or injure the feelings and sentiments of the others. They have got full faith and belief in the divine powers of Satgurus. Whatever he says, they feel privileged to obey it, fulfil it, they feel honoured when they pay the one-tenth of their earnings for the religious and social cause. They feel contended and satisfied with what they have. They are always ready to help the poor and the needy ones. In this Kalyug, when the men of the world are hankering after the glamour of wealth, they are attached by the worldly riches, they are allured to the materialistic possessions, their motto is to get more and more, they are never contended, never satisfied, whereas the Namdhari Sikhs are progressing by leaps and bounds as they are the pure Khalsa, leading a puritan, well contended life. By following the dictates of the Reverend Gurus, they have reached the zenith of spiritualism, gained inner strength and are able to face hardships of this world, they won't go to the law-courts for justice in case of any dispute, instead they would get it settled by the spiritual heads next to the Satguru Ji. The Namdhari women are also enjoying privileges at par with that of men folk. The Namdhari Sikhs living abroad in Bangkok, Africa, Europe and other countries of the world are exemplary and need to be envied upon, for their austere and simple peaceful life.The following views of some of the eminent musicians highlighting the greatness of Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji are noteworthy:"His Holiness Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji Maharaj has always been a source of great inspiration to many classical musicians of India"Ustad Amjad AH Khan"Words fail us when we speak about His most Exalted Holiness Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji. His intense love for and wholehearted devotion to every aspect of music - deep thought, melody and rhythm - need no testimony, and this art spontaneously permeates his whole life." - Pandit Birju Jee Maharaj"I have never known a spiritual Guru such as 'Satguru' who is so keen and knowledgeable in the Indian classical musical field. It was a delight to witness him playing and teaching his students with such a vast knowledge, especially his grasp of rare and original ragas as well as taals found very inspiring". - Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia.

"You are an enlightened person and possess immense knowledge of music yourself and you have chosen to nurture musical talents under the guidance of professional musicians. This amply illustrates your love for music you have therefore become the saviour of Indian Classical Music." - Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra."Indian classical music and spiritualism are two sides of the same coin. Indian Saints and Sages have used music as a medium of meditation. Revered Satguru Ji is the brightest and most appropriate example of an ideal combination of a great spiritual Guru and not only a great lover of music but having deep knowledge of this art. He has amazing knowledge of hundreds of traditional and rare compositions in various Ragas and Taals. These compositions should be recorded and preserved". - Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma